50 Deep Poems About Life To Live A Promising Life

 

Inspirational Short Poems About Life To Live A Purpose Driven Life

 

“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.”

– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Short Poems About Life

Short And Inspirational Poems About The Beauty of Life: In your quiet moments, what do you think about life? Well, whatever you think about it, life is a journey that is meant to be embraced to the fullest every day. However, that doesn’t mean you forget to enjoy it. Poems like quotations can help us to understand life from a lucid perspective. Many famous poets have inspired people to face and overcome life’s challenges through the words of their poems.

These beautifully written poems about life will surely inspire you to live a promising life. Each and every poem has a deep meaning and when you contemplate over it with a thoughtful mind, it will help you to understand – what is the essence of life. These poems about life are not only therapeutic to the poet, but also to the readers.

So here is the beautiful collection of short and deep poems about life that are loved and highly shared throughout our Twitter & Facebook pages. We hope you enjoyed these short life poems today. Please don’t forget to share these with your friends, family, and followers to brighten their day and inspire them to live a better life.

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1. Life Is A Privilege Poem By Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919)

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet. Her works include Poems of Passion and Solitude, which contains the lines “Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone. Her poem ‘Life is a privilege’ shows how short life really is and how the reader should cherish every moment of it.

Life is a privilege. Its youthful days
Shine with the radiance of continuous Mays.
To live, to breathe, to wonder and desire,
To feed with dreams the heart’s perpetual fire,
To thrill with virtuous passions, and to glow
With great ambitions – in one hour to know
The depths and heights of feeling – God! in truth,
How beautiful, how beautiful is youth!

Life is a privilege. Like some rare rose
The mysteries of the human mind unclose.
What marvels lie in the earth, and air, and sea!
What stores of knowledge wait our opening key!
What sunny roads of happiness lead out
Beyond the realms of indolence and doubt!
And what large pleasures smile upon and bless
The busy avenues of usefulness!

Life is a privilege. Thought the noontide fades
And shadows fall along the winding glades,
Though joy-blooms wither in the autumn air,
Yet the sweet scent of sympathy is there.
Pale sorrow leads us closer to our kind,
And in the serious hours of life we find
Depths in the souls of men which lend new worth
And majesty to this brief span of earth.

Life is a privilege. If some sad fate
Sends us alone to seek the exit gate,
If men forsake us and as shadows fall,
Still does the supreme privilege of all
Come in that reaching upward of the soul
To find the welcoming Presence at the goal,
And in the Knowledge that our feet have trod
Paths that led from, and must wind back, to God.

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2. Each Life Converges To Poem By Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Each life converges to some centre
Expressed or still;
Exists in every human nature
A goal,

Admitted scarcely to itself, it may be,
Too fair
For credibility’s temerity
To dare.

Adored with caution, as a brittle heaven,
To reach
Were hopeless as the rainbow’s raiment
To touch,

Yet persevered toward, surer for the distance;
How high
Unto the saints’ slow diligence
The sky!

Ungained, it may be, by a life’s low venture,
But then,
Eternity enables the endeavoring
Again.

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3. What Is This Life Poem By Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618)

What is our life? A play of passion,
Our mirth the music of division,
Our mother’s wombs the tiring-houses be,
Where we are dressed for this short comedy.
Heaven the judicious sharp spectator is,
That sits and marks still who doth act amiss.

Our graves that hide us from the setting sun
Are like drawn curtains when the play is done.
Thus march we, playing, to our latest rest,
Only we die in earnest, that’s no jest.

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4. A Life Poem By Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)

Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist, and short-story writer. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for two of her published collections, The Colossus and Other Poems (1960) and Ariel (1965), as well as The Bell Jar, a semi-autobiographical novel published shortly before her death in 1963.

‘A Life’ is an eight stanza poem which is ambiguous but has a pastoral quality to it. It seems as if a painting has come alive and the poet is asking the reader to understand what the painting wants to convey.

Touch it: it won’t shrink like an eyeball,
This egg-shaped bailiwick, clear as a tear.
Here’s yesterday, last year —
Palm-spear and lily distinct as flora in the vast
Windless threadwork of a tapestry.

Flick the glass with your fingernail:
It will ping like a Chinese chime in the slightest air stir
Though nobody in there looks up or bothers to answer.
The inhabitants are light as cork,
Every one of them permanently busy.

At their feet, the sea waves bow in single file.
Never trespassing in bad temper:
Stalling in midair,
Short-reined, pawing like paradeground horses.
Overhead, the clouds sit tasseled and fancy

As Victorian cushions. This family
Of valentine faces might please a collector:
They ring true, like good china.

Elsewhere the landscape is more frank.
The light falls without letup, blindingly.

A woman is dragging her shadow in a circle
About a bald hospital saucer.
It resembles the moon, or a sheet of blank paper
And appears to have suffered a sort of private blitzkrieg.
She lives quietly

With no attachments, like a foetus in a bottle,
The obsolete house, the sea, flattened to a picture
She has one too many dimensions to enter.
Grief and anger, exorcised,
Leave her alone now.

The future is a grey seagull
Tattling in its cat-voice of departure.
Age and terror, like nurses, attend her,
And a drowned man, complaining of the great cold,
Crawls up out of the sea.

5. The Guest House Poem By Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273)

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness.
Some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
Who violently sweep your house
Empty of its furniture,
Still, treat each guest honourably,
He may be clearing you out
For some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
Meet them at the door laughing,
And invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
Because each has been sent
As a guide from beyond.

6. Life Poem By Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855)

Life, believe, is not a dream
So dark as sages say;
Oft a little morning rain
Foretells a pleasant day.
Sometimes there are clouds of gloom,
But these are transient all;
If the shower will make the roses bloom,
O why lament its fall?
Rapidly, merrily,
Life’s sunny hours flit by,
Gratefully, cheerily
Enjoy them as they fly!
What though Death at times steps in,
And calls our Best away?
What though sorrow seems to win,
O’er hope, a heavy sway?
Yet Hope again elastic springs,
Unconquered, though she fell;
Still buoyant are her golden wings,
Still strong to bear us well.
Manfully, fearlessly,
The day of trial bear,
For gloriously, victoriously,
Can courage quell despair!

 

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7. Life Is Fine Poem By Langston Hughes (1901-1967)

James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. ‘Life is Fine’ poem by Langston Hughes is a playful ditty. The poem is about a man who is suffering and contemplating suicide but is still able to see the beauty in life. The poem tells about the sanctity of life and why we should protect it with all we’ve got despite how bleak it can often get.

I went down to the river,
I set down on the bank.
I tried to think but couldn’t,
So I jumped in and sank.

I came up once and hollered!
I came up twice and cried!
If that water hadn’t a-been so cold
I might’ve sunk and died.

But it was Cold in that water! It was cold!

I took the elevator
Sixteen floors above the ground.
I thought about my baby
And thought I would jump down.

I stood there and I hollered!
I stood there and I cried!
If it hadn’t a-been so high
I might’ve jumped and died.

But it was High up there! It was high!

So since I’m still here livin’,
I guess I will live on.
I could’ve died for love–
But for livin’ I was born

Though you may hear me holler,
And you may see me cry–
I’ll be dogged, sweet baby,
If you gonna see me die.

Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine!

8. The Summer Day Poem By Mary Oliver (1935-2019)

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
this grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

9. New Beginnings Poem By A. D. T. Whitney (1824-1906)

Life is full of new beginnings.
Some change may come,
something is sure to come,
to close one chapter and begin another.

Life is planned just so, . . .
that there should be a break from former link and habit,
often from imperfection and mistake,
and a clear, clean start for the fulfilment
of the best one has grown to,
even in desire, unhampered by the poorest one
has ever happened to be,
or to get credit for.

 

Short Inspiring Poems About Life For A Wonderful Living

10. My Symphony Poem By William Henry Channing (1810-1884)

William Henry Channing was a clergyman, philosopher, and writer. Born in Boston, he was largely supported by his uncle–the famous Unitarian theologian, William Ellery Channing–when his father died shortly after William’s birth. This poem grew in popularity after Arthur Brisbane, one of the best-known newspaper editors of the twentieth century, used it in his syndicated editorial column in the Hearst newspapers.

To live content with small means;
to seek elegance rather than luxury,
and refinement rather than fashion,
to be worthy, not respectable,
and wealthy, not rich;
to study hard, think quietly,
talk gently, act frankly,
to listen to stars and birds,
to babes and sages,
with open heart,
to bear all cheerfully,
to all bravely await occasions,
hurry never.
In a word, to let the spiritual unbidden
and unconscious grow up through the common.
This is to be my symphony.

11. My Inner Life Poem By Robert William Service (1874-1958)

‘Tis true my garments threadbare are,
And sorry poor I seem;
But inly I am richer far
Than any poet’s dream.
For I’ve a hidden life no one
Can ever hope to see;
A sacred sanctuary none
May share with me.

Aloof I stand from out the strife,
Within my heart a song;
By virtue of my inner life
I to myself belong.
Against man-ruling I rebel,
Yet do not fear defeat,
For to my secret citadel
I may retreat.

Oh you who have an inner life
Beyond this dismal day
With wars and evil rumours rife,
Go blessedly your way.
Your refuge hold inviolate;
Unto yourself be true,
And shield serene from sordid fate
The Real You.

12. O Me! O Life! Poem By Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer.
That you are here—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.

Source: Leaves of Grass (1892)

 

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13. Life Doesn’t Frighten Me Poem By Maya Angelou (1928-2014)

Maya Angelou was an American author, actress, screenwriter, dancer, poet, and civil rights activist. Her poem ‘Life Doesn’t Frighten Me’ is a simple, repetitive poem that is written from a child’s perspective. This poem was published in 1993. The poem speaks on themes of overcoming fear, strength, and everyday life and takes the reader into the mind of a child who has found a way to overcome fear in her life.

Shadows on the wall
Noises down the hall
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.

Bad dogs barking loud
Big ghosts in a cloud
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.

Mean old Mother Goose
Lions on the loose
They don’t frighten me at all.

Dragons breathing flame
On my counterpane
That doesn’t frighten me at all.

I go boo
Make them shoo
I make fun
Way they run
I won’t cry
So they fly
I just smile
They go wild

Life doesn’t frighten me at all.

Tough guys fight
All alone at night
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.

Panthers in the park
Strangers in the dark
No, they don’t frighten me at all.

That new classroom where
Boys all pull my hair
(Kissy little girls
With their hair in curls)
They don’t frighten me at all.

Don’t show me frogs and snakes
And listen for my scream,
If I’m afraid at all
It’s only in my dreams.

I’ve got a magic charm
That I keep up my sleeve
I can walk the ocean floor
And never have to breathe.

Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Not at all
Not at all.

Life doesn’t frighten me at all.

14. Couldn’t and Could Poem By Nixon Waterman (1859-1944)

“Couldn’t” and “Could” were two promising boys
Who lived not a great while ago.
They had just the same playmates and just the same toys,
And just the same chances for winning life’s joys
And all that the years may bestow.

And “Could” soon found out he could fashion his life
On lines very much as he planned;
He could cultivate goodness and guard against strife;
He could have all his deeds with good cheer to be rife,
And build him a name that would stand.
But poor little “Couldn’t” just couldn’t pull through
All the trials he met with a sigh;
When a task needed doing, he couldn’t, he knew;
And hence, when he couldn’t, how could he? Could you,
If you couldn’t determine you’d try?

So “Could” just kept building his way to success,
Nor clouding his sky with a doubt,
But “Couldn’t” strayed into the slough of Distress,
Alas! and his end it is easy to guess–
Strayed in, but he couldn’t get out.

And that was the difference ‘twixt “Couldn’t” and “Could”;
Each followed his own chosen plan;
And where “Couldn’t” just wouldn’t “Could” earnestly would,
And where one of them weakened the other “made good,”
And won with his watchword, “I can!”

15. Life Poem By Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)

A crust of bread and a corner to sleep in,
A minute to smile and an hour to weep in,
A pint of joy to a peck of trouble,
And never a laugh but the moans come double;
And that is life!

A crust and a corner that love makes precious,
With a smile to warm and the tears to refresh us;
And joy seems sweeter when cares come after,
And a moan is the finest of foils for laughter;
And that is life!

 

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16. Each Moment Is Precious Poem By Pat Fleming

Pat A. Fleming was raised in Trenton, New Jersey. She belongs to an Irish American family. Her poem ‘Each Moment Is Precious’ expresses the importance of each moment in life and living it to the fullest.

Live in the moment,
Just take it all in.
Pay attention to everything,
Right there and right then.

Don’t let your mind wander
To what’s coming next.
Cherish this moment
And give it your best.

Don’t let tomorrow
Make you rush through today,
Or too many great moments
Will just go to waste.

And the person you’re with,
In that moment you share,
Give them all of your focus;
Be totally there.

Laugh till it hurts,
Let the tears drop.
Fill up each moment
With all that you’ve got.

Don’t miss the details;
The lesson is there.
Don’t get complacent;
Stay sharp and aware.

It can take but a moment
To change your life’s path.
And once it ticks by,
There is no going back.

In just 60 seconds,
You may make a new friend.
Find your true love,
Or see a life start or end.

You become who you are
In those moments you live.
And the growth’s not in taking
But in how much you give.

Life is just moments,
So precious and few.
Whether valued or squandered,
It’s all up to you!

© Patricia A. Fleming

17. Life Is Tough Poem By Catherine Pulsifer

Life is tough enough I’d say,
Without negative thoughts.
A little bit of positive something,
Powers the body with many watts.

As the body cannot survive without nourishment,
Neither can the mind.
Make sure to nourish all of you,
You never know what you will find.

Leave the past in the past,
This negativity will drag you down.
There’s no point to dwell on anything,
Put on that smile, remove that frown.

When you look to the future,
Set goals every day
Be a winner, not a loser
Be determined and persistent, success will find a way.

18. Take It In Poem By An Unknown Author

If you’d make life worth the living
In this valley here below.
Take the fun in with the labor-
Take enjoyment as you go.
If you’d live the noblest, truest,
Keeping cheerful, brave, and strong,
Do not slave for future pleasures;
Take them as you go along.

Do not lay up all your treasures,
After years of life to bless;
Do not wait until your efforts
Meet the fulness of success.
Do not drudge till your position
Is the richest men among,
Ere you taste of life’s sweet nectars;
Sip them as you go along.

Pleasure makes your work more easy;
Work shows pleasure at its best;
Rest will nerve the arm to labor;
Labor, too, brings sweeter rest.
Work with steady, earnest effort
In the pushing, crowding throng;
But do not forget the pleasures;
Take them as you go along.

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19. Time Supreme Poem By Mary Ashley Townsend (1836–1901)

Mary Ashley Townsend was an American poet and writer. She was born in Lyons, New York in 1836. She began to write for publication about 1856 and, under the pen-name of “Xariffa. Her work gained “high critical acclaim in the 1870s and 1880s”. Her poem ‘Time Supreme’ talks about the perfect blend of time and opportunity in a person’s life.

To every life there comes a time supreme:
One day, one night, one morning, or one noon,
One freighted hour – one moment opportune,
One rift through which sublime fulfilments gleam;
One time when fate goes tiding with the stream,
One Once in balance ‘twixt Too Late, Too Soon –
And ready for the passing instant’s boon
That shall in favor tip the wavering beam.
Ah! happy he who, knowing how to wait,
Knows also how to watch and how to stand
On life’s broad deck alert, and at the prow,
To seize the happy moment big with fate
From Opportunity’s extended hand
When the great clock of Destiny strikes Now!

20. Truths For Living Poem By William Arthur Ward (1921-1994)

The more generous we are,
the more joyous we become.
The more cooperative we are,
the more valuable we become.

The more enthusiastic we are,
the more productive we become.
The more serving we are,
the more prosperous we become.

The more outgoing we are,
the more helpful we become.
The more curious we are,
the more creative we become.

The more patient we are,
the more understanding we become.
The more persistent we are,
the more successful we become.

21. When You Go Into The World Poem By Rebecca Puig

Remember when you go into the world to
keep your eyes and ears wide open.
And be kind.
Love one another.
Take care of each other.
Tell the truth.
Always do your best.
Listen to the big people and the little people.
Explore new paths and have fun.
Know that you are loved like crazy.
Give thanks for all your blessings.
Above all else,
Love and you will do
wonderful things in this world.

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Deep Short Poems About Life That Will Soothe Your Spirit

We know the list of poems is getting long but before you go on your way we would like to share these three final deep poems about life. These poems are our favorite and we hope you, too, will definitely like them.

22. This Is To Have Succeeded Poem By Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty,
to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better,
whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch,
or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has
breathed easier
because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.

23. Life Is A Gift: A Beautiful Poem By An Unknown Author

Today before you think of saying an unkind word–
think of someone who can’t speak.

Before you complain about the taste of your food–
think of someone who has nothing to eat.

Before you complain about your husband or wife–
think of someone who is crying out to God for a companion.

Today before you complain about life–
think of someone who went too early to heaven.

Before you complain about your children–
think of someone who desires children but they’re barren.

Before you argue about your dirty house, someone didn’t clean or sweep–
think of the people who are living in the streets.

Before whining about the distance you drive–
think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet.

And when you are tired and complain about your job–
think of the unemployed, the disabled, and those who wished they had your job.

But before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another–
remember that not one of us is without sin and we all answer to one maker.

And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down–
put a smile on your face and thank God you’re alive and still around.

Life is a gift – Live it, Enjoy it, Celebrate it, and Fulfill it.

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24. Enjoy Your Life Poem By An Unknown Author

Enjoy every moment of every day
Take your time to go out and play.

Enjoy the time when all goes well,
and when it’s bad, do not dwell.

Enjoy every heartbeat your heart is willing to give.
Make it count. For as long as you live.

Enjoy the things you like, endure the things you not.
Count your blessings, there are a lot!

Enjoy the love of the people around you.
Pick yourself up, when you are feeling blue.

Enjoy every smile, each splinter of fun
Enjoy your life, you will only get one.

Read More Short Poems About Life: 20 Short Inspirational Poems To Uplift Your Spirit

“Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason.”

– Novalis

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